Latest Activity

Your doctor is wrong. You don't need a traumatic spinal injury for this. It is also not hormonal, he is a he, correct. It angers me when bonifide medical ailments get placed under the "hormone" category if you are a woman of a certain age. When it is only the head and not the rest of the body it can be many causes but belive me this is as a result of a problem inthe "autonomic nervous system", it is focal not generalized. I have just gone through a major crisis, averted a diagnosis of lymphoma. Through this, lots of blood work, 2 neck surgeries and CT scans, thyroid cancer test, thyroid numbers everything has been poked and proded. I have "craniofacial hyperhydrosis"of no known cause. The only anomoly for me is the severe osteoarthritis of the c-spine, my discs are herniating in my neck, there is central canal stenosis and the sweating continues. It is only my head that pours sweat, I am not talking beads of sweat I am talking about sweat that pours off my head onto me, the table, my grandkids. It's disgusting. Rivlets of sweat pouring down while I eat or watch tv or shop for food or do anything. I cannot make it stop. Also I have the sensaton of things walking on my head, feels like bugs walking around the scalp. Nothing is there it's a most annoying feeling. I get those nerve twinges on my head, twiches I guess you would call it. It drives me nuts. Horminal? That stopped a long time ago. That is a catch all, doctors throw lots of stuff in that category. I wish doctors were made to suffer some of the things that we suffer, hormonal. I am going to make an appointment with my neurosrgeon to see what he thinks. He is a good doctor and he is very sympathetic.View Thread

I hope that just knowing there are so many of us out there will help you. We all have a story to tell and these web forums allow us to speak freely of our afflictions and get as well as give advice.I know your pain and I know your dilemma. Please get a Social Security lawyer ASAP. You will not have to pay out of pocket for services if there is no case then they are not inclined to take the case but if the medical evidence is there then you will begin the process. The law office I used is in Philadelphia and if you would like to contact them (if you are a PA resident) then email me and I will send you their information: smurray1@ptd.net. If not and you are from another state just utilize a firm that has experience, they will have a better put together website. After your denial they should appeal for you. And mine was pretty quick after the appeal went in. They conducted everything by phone interview, they got your medical files from treating physicians, they go into court with you if the judge wants to meet with you. My judge did want to see me. He was really very nice, it was not as stressful as I expected it to be and he made the decision then and there. I think he already made the decision just wanted to meet with me. He had an occupational specialist there and she made her recommendation and he found "less than sedentary work" which is no work. It was such a relief when it was all over with. But you really need to file with a good firm. Let me know if you want the referral to the law firm I used.God bless, I am keeping you in my prayers.SharonView Thread

I have been reading up on this and your cranial facial nerves can be included in c-spine OA. And cranial facial nerves can cause this head sweating. Usually if they are injured at the check(s) but they originate from the c-spine exiting in the occipital region, splitting into cranial facial nerves. This region is at the base of the head. This is where my "migraines" originate I can feel when these nerves are affected, the back of my head throbs. The only thing that eased these for me was about 3 years ago I began Botox injections for the muscle spasms in the neck. I had about 3 or 4 sessions, one session in between I had just simple injections of lidocane (or some such "caine"). It seems that the return of my headaches and the sweating occurred at about the same time, last spring. I am also having some eye involvement, little haze here and there, I just noticed it and it occurs with headache and neck muscle spasms. Control of body temp and sweating is hypothalamus, I am sure of that. It could indicate other ailments but mine is definitely culminating in headache, neck pain, sweating and now hazy vision. Sweating is also part of the sympathetic nervous system, just below surface of the skin. I will figure this out and share the outcome.View Thread

I am on HRT, have been for years. I have blood work done all the time for Thyroid nodule in left lobe. And we do all the other blood work with it. There is nothing. I have read a lot over the past few days that tells me it is from the DDD in the neck. It's the sympathetic nervous system when there is a gliltch such as nerve entrapment there can be among other things sweating, profusely sweating. Also the forehead nerves running through the cheeks (facial) can be the cause. This is definitely not female hormone related. This is much, much more profuse and is only the head my arm pits are bone dry when this occurs. Not even sweating on my chest, it's just the head. Of course after several minutes I do begin to sweat in other areas due to the sheer embarrassment of it all. I skipped the Pumpkin Patch last week with my grandkids due to it. I just could not bring myself to go. When something affects me this much it's bad, very bad. I hate missing fun with the kids. I don't get out much these days and it's not healthy for us to do this. I spent an hour crying, sobbing and of course sweating from my head because I had to say no. It has to end and I will do anything to stop it.So I go back to be poked and prodded with needles, medications, anything is better than this.View Thread

But they have approved it for dystonia which is severe muscle spasms, anywhere. They have approved it for migraine headache. I don't know if insurance would cover it for sweating anyway. Anyone with OA in the neck probably has severe enough muscle spasms as I did and Botox can be used for that.View Thread

Anyone who has had an injection with the suspected batch numbers/lot numbers should already have been contacted. This happened months ago and has only just hit the news. If you go to fda.gov the information is there. Here is how it goes: Company tests batches for issues, they notice issue they contact FDA and let them know that they have a problem. The division of Biologics is the exact group at FDA involved in "injectables". The FDA then investigates the site of the contaminate. This takes lots of time to happen. At any rate physicians or facilities are notified by the supplier that they have an "incident" and they issue a recall. Somewhere along that line the press becomes aware of the goings on. If it is widespread the FDA, CDC, HHH and others setup with the company the recall. If the drug in this case an injectable medication has been used then a recall is very silly, does the patient have to be "recalled"? Well your doctor would already have notified you. Do you have anything that states what lot number was on the vial you were injected with? Your doctor does and you need to call ASAP. This is not something to play around with. I don't know if this is your problem, you may have an allergic reaction to the medication. My mother and sister have this type of reaction to lidocaine and other ____caines. It is not topical lidocaine it is only in the injection. You may also have a problem with too much cortisone in your system. I have had this when I have had lots of injections at different doctors or when taking higher dose orally. You can have rash, feel hot like you are burning up, get chills, and suffer a little mania (which co-workers think is funny but it's not really).Meningitis is no joke and you would suffer such a headache you would go to the ER. You would be very, very sick. Call a doctor.View Thread

It makes a difference to have pre-meds. I usually don't need that because the lidocaine is in the cortisone shot and it would just take longer. I am also in so much pain when I go that I don't care about the shot.My pain guy is now scheduling me for RFA in cervical facet joints. OUCH when he uses a little "sleepy" medication. I have had this done without I told them but he insists that I be sleepy. He has been my primary go to guy of late for injections and when he says "sleepy" he's gonna hurt. Maybe this time he will do the correct procedure because the first guy to do it was eating donuts, bs'ing with his assistant and it just didn't work out right at all. Didn't work at all.If you need it you should ask for it and they should comply with your request it is a "standard of care" in the U.S. to numb prior to shooting. I call it shooting now adays, sometimes that's what it feels like.View Thread

We, the heriditary OA people need to form a group of our own. We are not the same as the "wear and tear" group.. We are unique in the world of OA. I have had doctor's nurses say "It's only ol arthur" when calling about xray results. So now I say back, "no, it's worse than that, it's primary, idiopathic, generalized, oseoarthritis". Primary- Not secondary to injury, Idiopathic-Of no known cause, Generalized-Multi-site and bilateral joints. But PIGO does not sound good so we need to get that gone because it implies a weight issue which most of us do not have at onset but the pounds build up when you can't keep yourself mobilized all the time and some of our medications add pounds, Lyrica is one such medication. We often have other pain "syndromes": Fibromyalgia, Myofascial Pain, RSD and so on. We are so different than the wear and tear group and they do not understand this disease. We need to make sure our doctors know this. My GP is really good when I told him of my latest dx (my spine guy sent me to the knee guy) both knees he just said "oh gez", he is getting it. My GP is my medication doctor and I request all "shooters" report the cortisone injections to him due to an issue a couple years back with glaucoma. My regular eye app. and my pressure was up in both eyes. I did a lot of reading and discovered that as a result of all the shooters I had too many doses of cortisone in a short period of time and developed glaucoma which quickly resolved as the injections stopped.We need to be diligent in our care and aware of these types of issues. Maybe I'll look around and see what we can do about a site that informs people of the possibility that they have this form of OA. We need this to be recognized as a completely separate form of arthritis. I hear you loud and clear!View Thread

Again, that is too much pain after an injection. Injections can also be tools for doctors to realize the severity of the injury. They are used, at times, as diagnostics. I would first call the doctor to let them know just how bad it is. Pain level, pain calendar often helps. Not weird reaction just not as expected.Elevate and ice for the first 24 hours, then try some heat. Sometimes the medication can crystallize, it's a weird thing. If that has happened it takes longer to dissolve which takes longer to help the inflammation.Remember cortisone is only an anti inflammatory and has no pain relieving properties. So you need to take some pain medication, did they provide a script or suggest what to take? Be careful of acetaminophen or paracetamol because this is not an anti inflammatory only pain and be very, very careful of how many you take as this can have disastrous effects on the liver. I have had this happen in my back (crystallization) and have found heat to be very soothing. Same instructions as for ice; 20 minutes on and off. I find though that I become to used to the heat and it doesn't have the same soothing effect after a while.I have so many good and bad experiences with shots, everywhere-back, neck, elbows, carpal tunnel, knees, ankles, once for plantar faccitits (that one I would never, ever repeat) I clawed the table, I think I left a hole in the upholstery. He said "scream if you have to but don't pull away, I'll have to start over again". When a doctor says that to you LOOK OUT!!They know how bad the shots can be and they need to sound proof the room they use for shots. The only one that left me moaning was one at the base of my tail bone after my first back surgery because he thought it would be a better location for the shot, "literature states". How embarrassing because I was not prepared for that one, just above the anus into the spinal canal or whats left of it. Face down screaming into the table padding. Never again, plus I think he caused a pilonidal cyst with that. Link to that:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilonidal_cystGood luck, prayers for you, call the doctor.View Thread

You are quoting one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.I will keep everyone informed. Of course after a very gentile examination I have a terrific headache now. It started shortly after I posted yesterday. This has the makings for a really bad one. I keep changing pillows, my bed is brand new and very comfortable. I find feather pillows to be the best for support because I can fluff and position them anyway needed. Oh boy this one will hopefully work. I had the RFA done way back in 2006, it did not work so good but it was a different doc who was not so clean shall we say. I never knew a doctor to eat during a procedure before or since. Donuts one day. That bothered me because you should be in a kind of sterile environment when sticking needles into someone's neck, I would imagine anyway. No pre-meds of any kind, when I read the reports he made of the procedures, the RFA, he noted that the actual pulse lasted 90 seconds. Well, I can tell you that it was not a minute and 1/2. More like 30 or 40 seconds. I was fully awake and if it would have lasted that long it would have seemed an eternity. Really. He also had hit a vessel because blood poured out and down my chin onto the fluoroscopic machine, I thought it might have been an anesthetic when I opened my eyes I realized it was a pretty fast flowing stream of blood and I had to tell them (Dr. and assistant) that I was bleeding. They were just chit chatting and the actual ablation had not started yet they were still placing the needles. Eating donuts, chit chatting not paying attention to the patient at all. " Hey! bleeding here!". Then they had not grounded me, they have to attach an electorde to your leg and they could not figure out why it was not working. Again I had to tell them "Hey! not grounded here!"I know that with the real pain specialist this will not occur. And I get to be minimally sedated unlike my 2006 experience wide awake.I will let you all know as soon as it's done. It's not unlike epidurals but this is the neck not the low back. Most of all if it stops the sweats since they do the smaller nerves, rami nerves I think it is.Thanks for your well wishes.View Thread

Women's Health Newsletter

The opinions expressed in WebMD Communities are solely those of the User, who may or may not have medical or scientific training. These opinions do not represent the opinions of WebMD. Communities are not reviewed by a WebMD physician or any member of the WebMD editorial staff for accuracy, balance, objectivity, or any other reason except for compliance with our Terms and Conditions. Some of these opinions may contain information about treatments or uses of drug products that have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. WebMD does not endorse any specific product, service or treatment.

Do not consider Communities as medical advice. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your doctor or other qualified healthcare provider because of something you have read on WebMD. You should always speak with your doctor before you start, stop, or change any prescribed part of your care plan or treatment. WebMD understands that reading individual, real-life experiences can be a helpful resource, but it is never a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment from a qualified health care provider. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or dial 911 immediately.